The lady was washing the dishes when the insistent tapping at the window started. She turned around, wiping her wet hands on her skirt as she went in search of what was doing the tapping in some trepidation – her little apartment was on the tenth floor. There shouldn’t be anything tapping on the windows.

When she saw what was making the erratic tapping, she stopped short. She hadn’t seen this in five years, and fear leapt inside her instantly. Was it good or bad news?

She opened the small living room’s window to let the owl in, and it neatly dropped the letter from Hogwarts onto her sofa before making one round of the room and settling on the frame of the window it had entered by, waiting expectantly. Moonsoo was still at school, and her husband wouldn’t be home for hours – she wondered what she would do if the letter was about something that had happened to Myungsoo, if he had been hurt – she had no idea what went on in that magical school of his, and still didn’t understand most of what he told her about it when he was home.

Opening the envelope, she read through the contents quickly, going still as stone.

Please inform us of the earliest time we can meet with you at your home to speak about this. Please understand the matter is of extreme urgency. You may write a reply and give it to the owl to bring back to us.

The lady looked up from the letter, suddenly looking very small and defeated.

“So,” she murmured to herself, heartbroken. “It’s happened after all.”

*

Myungsoo reeled as if he’d been slapped.

“You were right, Poppy,” McGonagall was saying, the sound of her voice seeming miles away in the background as a roaring started up in his ears. “The curse originated in Mr Kim. You were right.”

“No,” Myungsoo said, and as reality came flooding back he became aware that he’d been repeating the word ‘no’ over and over for the past minute. “There’s no way – I’m not cursed! It’s not me!”

He tried to wrench off Snape’s hand holding him down in the bed, but Snape only pushed back harder. “Calm down,” Snape ordered, fixing him with his dark eyes.

“Get your hands off me!”

All at once, a peculiar heavy sensation travelled through his limbs and he felt his apprehension and fear ebb away in degrees; Snape’s eyes had not left his face, and the knowledge that Snape was probably using a nonverbal tranquilising spell on him only served to make him angrier, but that too faded fast. Myungsoo’s head dropped back onto the mattress, eyes threatening to close as the fight drained out of him.

“No,” he swallowed weakly. “I didn’t hurt him.”

“Severus, that wasn’t necessary,” McGonagall admonished sharply, pushing Myungsoo’s hair back from his forehead gently. “Mr Kim, can you hear me?”

Myungsoo nodded slowly through the dense cloud of artificial contentment.

“Mr Kim, you have to be extremely honest with me. Do you have any knowledge at all why you would have a blood curse on you?”

“No,” Myungsoo pleaded, cotton wool in his head and tears beginning to leak out the sides of his eyes. “I’m not cursed.”

“We could give him Veritaserum,” Flitwick suggested. Madam Pomfrey shot him down immediately, unable to keep quiet any longer.

“Honestly, all of you! Can’t you see how upset the poor boy is?”

In the haze before the spell took him and gave him up to a dreamless sleep, Myungsoo saw the teachers gather together at the foot of his bed and begin to argue intensely, their voices melding into a low buzzing background noise that he wished would stop. He let his head fall to the right. Sungyeol was a blurred vision in white – white skin, white bandages, white pajamas. Myungsoo tried to reach for him, but his hand never made it.

Myungsoo slept.

*

Strangely enough, the first thing Myungsoo thought about in alarm when he woke up was of all the classes he must have missed. He must have overslept because the sun streaming into the room was too bright to be seven in the morning when he was supposed to have gotten up; then he realized he was in the infirmary, sleeping in the bed next to –

Myungsoo froze.

“Ah, good, you’re awake,” Madam Pomfrey smiled kindly at him, Myungsoo watching her approach as if in a dream through the pounding of his heart as the memories of yesterday came rushing back. Madam Pomfrey muttered something accusatory about how Snape hadn’t needed to use such a strong tranquilising spell that had knocked him out for nearly a whole day, but Myungsoo found himself feeling oddly thankful. What would he have done if they’d let him go back to his dorm yesterday? Better to sleep and be oblivious to the world than awake and helpless.

Myungsoo looked at her, having nothing to say.

“Poor child,” Madam Pomfrey sighed, pausing. “Would you like to go back to Hufflepuff basement?”

Myungsoo hadn’t even begun to confront the events of the day before – that he had somehow caused Sungyeol to be sliced open with an invisible knife and to have to lie unconscious day after day without any clear hope of recovery anyone could see; why, and how, and when, and why, and who, and why Sungyeol, and why now. It was impossible to take in without wanting to burst with anger and fear and shame and guilt.

It really was true. He was the reason why Sungyeol had nearly died. Would he have to die for the curse on Sungyeol to be broken? The thought struck him like a hammer.

“I – I don’t know,” Myungsoo managed to get out, wanting to both be as far away from Sungyeol as he could and not wanting to go out into the world of Normal waiting outside; his friends would want answers and he didn’t think he could talk to anyone right now. Woohyun would want answers –

Myungsoo retched without warning, and Madam Pomfrey hurried away to find him a bucket. The curse was in Myungsoo’s very blood, the very thing that was keeping him alive, and unsuspecting Sungyeol had done nothing to deserve any of this – the memory of Sungyeol kissing him innocently rose unbidden in Myungsoo’s mind. All along, Myungsoo had been nothing but a walking weapon, and he was always going to have hurt Sungyeol. The thought of how persistent and upfront Sungyeol had been about his feelings, being so clear that he wanted Myungsoo – it made Myungsoo want to laugh or cry, he didn’t know which.

By the time Madam Pomfrey returned, Myungsoo was gone.

*

“How are they coming? Are they just going to appear out of thin air?”

The lady cast a quelling look at Moonsoo, whom she hadn’t been able to keep the news from once he had overheard her and his father talking in the kitchen – in a house as small as this eavesdropping wasn’t that hard. All she had allowed Moonsoo to know was that there were wizards and witches – words still so alien to her even though she had had years to accept that her eldest was a wizard as well – coming to the house to speak to his parents and that he was to go straight to his room once they had arrived. Truth be told, she had no idea how they were going to get here – Myungsoo had probably told her once how magical people travelled but every time he came home he talked nonstop about everything he had seen and learned at school so that things were bound to get lost in his excited landslide of information. Moonsoo’s eagerness to see Myungsoo’s teachers and possibly some magic didn’t help to offset any of the hopelessness she was feeling, however.

To Moonsoo’s disappointment, they rung the doorbell. Her husband ushered them in quietly to sit on the small sofa, and she offered them tea out of the urgings of good manners even if she didn’t really bother whether they liked it or if they noticed the cracks on the worn china – they accepted it nevertheless, the woman smiling kindly in deep contrast to the solemn man in complete black next to her who hadn’t smiled nor said a word since they’d arrived. They were wearing long robes which Moonsoo gaped at – a firm nudge from his mother sent him pouting back into the room he used to share with Myungsoo.

Myungsoo’s mother sat down on the one remaining chair while her husband stood behind her, and waited – the Hogwarts letter had been intentionally vague but she knew there was only one reason why they would be here.

“Madam, sir,” McGonagall began, clearing as she held her tea in both hands, the welcome warmth of it seeping into her fingers. “Firstly, thank you for getting back to us so quickly. I appreciate your promptness as time is of the essence here.”

Myungsoo’s parents nodded.

“As I informed you in the letter, we are here about your son. A few days ago there was an incident in school involving Myungsoo which left another student severely injured. Myungsoo claims not to know how it happened, and we believe him – which is why we are here to find out if you know anything that could help us save this other student. In short,” McGonagall continued, knowing she was beating around the bush and annoying Snape while she tried to think of a way to break the news to Myungsoo’s parents. “In short, we have reason to believe that Myungsoo has a curse on him, and this curse manifested for the first time as he was having his first kiss with this other student. The other child is now in the hospital with multiple slash wounds, all inflicted magically by the curse. I hope I have been clear so far?”

“You already know,” Snape said abruptly to Myungsoo’s parents. McGonagall turned to throw him a furious look, believing he had reneged on their earlier agreement not to use Legilimency on the Kims unless it was absolutely necessary. “They’re not surprised,” Snape said by way of explanation, watching the two Muggles. “Anybody else would be shocked, asking questions, refusing to believe what we were telling them. They already know.”

Myungsoo’s mother sighed, her husband squeezing her shoulder without a word – their silence more meaningful than anything they could have said in answer to Snape’s observation.

“Yes, we know,” Myungsoo’s father said finally, voice old. “I suppose we were always hoping it wasn’t going to end up like this.”

“What exactly do you know?” McGonagall questioned immediately, leaning forward. “Please, this is very important.”

“We will tell you, but first, please, how’s the girl?” Myungsoo’s mother asked, shame written on her face. “I couldn’t live if she doesn’t survive.”

“The girl? What girl?”

“The girl Myungsoo kissed?” Mrs Kim looked confused.

“Oh,” McGonagall was speechless for a moment, and looked uselessly to Snape for assistance. “Oh dear. It’s – it’s not a girl.”

“Not a girl?” Myungsoo’s father repeated, taken aback. “Are you telling me Myungsoo’s first kiss was with a boy? As in – it was for a game, or joke, or what?”

“No, I don’t believe it was.” McGonagall felt out of her depth, remembering how miserable Myungsoo had looked when he’d had to tell everyone in the infirmary that Sungyeol had been kissing him when the curse had taken hold. This wasn’t the conversation she had come here to have. “I understand this must be shocking to you, but please understand, that is the least of our worries right now. A child is lying almost dead back in our school and we need to know how to save him. Please, tell us whatever you know about the curse that Myungsoo is carrying in him.”

Myungsoo’s mother looked up at her husband uncertainly, the both of them clearly shaken by this news.

“I had – I had no idea,” she murmured, lost. “A boy…”

Snape’s short patience snapped. “What I want to know is why you never bothered to inform the school about this? He could have killed that other student if his friends hadn’t acted on time. As it is we cannot discover a way to cure the other boy of a curse that clearly wants him dead, so I would appreciate it if you would tell us whatever it is you know. If you haven’t realized by now, this curse on your son looks set to ruin his entire life.”

The effect on Myungsoo’s parents was no different than a cutting lecture of Snape’s had on any Hogwarts student, an observation that would have been almost funny if the situation had been anything but the current one.

“Of – of course,” Mrs Kim said, looking stricken. “I’m so sorry. We just – it’s a surprise, you understand, he never gave any indication – yes.” She took a deep calming breath, and then another. “When Myungsoo came to us as a baby-”

“I beg your pardon?” McGonagall couldn’t stop herself from interrupting. “Came to you?” She in a breath as the realization hit her and Myungsoo’s parents nodded. It was all starting to make sense. “He’s not your child.”

“No, he – we adopted him. We’d been trying to have a baby for years but couldn’t. I don’t know how she knew – Myungsoo’s real mother – I don’t know how she knew about us but one day she came to the house. At first we couldn’t believe it – she said she was a witch, that her son would likely be magical too – she showed us magic to convince us. She said she couldn’t look after her baby anymore, she was crying so hard. And then she told us about the curse.”

Myungsoo’s mother broke off then, pressing a hand to . Mr Kim bent down to rub her back, speaking soft words of comfort.

“We were so desperate for a child – I don’t think I really cared what her story was as long as I could have the baby, I wasn’t thinking clearly at all. She told us that she had a curse on her, that all her family had it. It caused their loved ones to suffer horribly – her own husband, she said, had paid the price for being with her. She wanted us to have Myungsoo so that he had a chance to be with a Muggle girl when he grew up – that was what she called us, ‘Muggles’ – and hopefully break the curse through his children. Dilute the bloodline, or something, I don’t know if that makes sense to you?” She paused, and McGonagall nodded at her to continue. “She was raving, poor woman. I think she was half out of her mind by then.

“So we took him. It all seemed like a dream, honestly, but the next day he was still there, in the bassinet she had brought him in, and the genuine adoption papers she had produced out of nowhere. And he grew up with us, and we loved him so much. He’s such a good boy.” She trailed off.

“Then the things started happening,” Mr Kim picked up when it became clear his wife wasn’t going to continue, his hand still on her shoulder as he cast worried looks at her. “She lost her job, I had a sickness which also meant I had to give up my previous career, we all had to move to this smaller apartment because money became so tight – my hospital bills nearly ruined us. At first we didn’t think much of it, just tried to get through it, you know? But then his real mother’s words were all we could think about. That she had a curse on her that hurt her loved ones – made them suffer – and Myungsoo would have it too. I beg you, don’t misunderstand me. We never told him anything, or blamed him for our misfortune, you have to believe that. But as things happened too frequently for them all just to be coincidences… we knew it was real.

I’m sorry,” Mr Kim said helplessly, fruitlessly. “You’re right, we should have told the school.”

“What’s going to happen to Myungsoo now?” Mrs Kim spoke up tremulously, one hand gripping the arm of her chair so tightly the knuckles went white. “It’s not his fault. If anything it’s ours. We never told him, he couldn’t have prevented it.”

“Myungsoo’s not going to be punished, if that’s what you’re asking,” McGonagall answered quickly, trying to reassure her. “As you said, he had no idea of the curse. But…” McGonagall stopped, trying to think. If the curse had been passed to Myungsoo through his mother that made this a hereditary bloodcurse, and curses of that nature were unbreakable through external magic. The only way a hereditary curse could be broken was – McGonagall turned to Snape to find him already looking at her. She knew he was thinking the very same thing.

“But?” Myungsoo’s mother asked anxiously, looking between Snape and McGonagall.

“Madam, what was the name of Myungsoo’s real mother? Did she tell you?” Snape turned back to the Kims, leaving McGonagall to her thoughts.

“Yes, yes she did. I’ll never forget their names. Her name was Jung Seohyun, and her husband’s name was Kang Sanghoon.”

“Kang Sanghoon?” Snape mused, “Minerva, do you recall-?”

“The Auror?” McGonagall answered without pause, memories coming back to her from sixteen years ago. It was hard to forget – it had caused such an uproar when it happened. Kang Sanghoon had killed several people during a Wizengamot trial for a criminal he himself had arrested, and reports that had emerged after the murders indicated that his behavior had been increasingly erratic over the past months – the stress of the job, threats on his life normal for an Auror taking their toll, so on and so forth – the papers were full of speculation.  He’d finally taken his own life in Azkaban, months later. She hadn’t known he’d had a wife, however.

“Do you mind-” Snape was asking the Kims. “Could I have a basin of water?”

“A basin?” Mr Kim repeated, not sure if he’d heard correctly.

“Yes. I want to see if his mother is still alive.”

McGonagall gave Snape a look out of the corner of her eye. Surely such low water divination was hardly Snape’s style? They could easily have done it when they were back at Hogwarts, too – she gave up. It was impossible to fathom what Snape was thinking.

Mr Kim came back from the kitchen with a small washbasin filled to the brim with water, and set it down carefully on the table in front of Snape. Snape shook back the sleeve of his right hand and began muttering, dividing the surface of the water into two with a finger so that a faint glowing line cut the washbasin into two. One half he designated Earth, and the other was the Afterlife. Snape named Jung Seohyun, mother of Kim Myungsoo, student of Hogwarts, and a tiny twinkling light appeared in the Afterlife. They all stared at it for a moment before Snape wiped the water clean, shaking his sleeve down over his arm once more; the Kims looked in awe at this display of magic, simple as it was. McGonagall narrowed her eyes slightly at the unnecessary flourishes Snape had added into the magic – a divination spell didn’t need to be verbal, nor did it usually involve so much twinkling and glowing light.

“We must be getting back,” Snape said as he stood, bowing slightly to the two Muggles who hurried to shake his hand and McGonagall’s in turn, the mother especially looking up at him with hope in her eyes. McGonagall looked at Snape then, wondering if that had been his purpose; to give Myungsoo’s parents something to trust in, even if it had been the equivalent of cheap Muggle parlour tricks. He’d awed them with something beyond their understanding, and so helped them make the connection between this and the curse, also something they didn’t understand; Snape had control over one so he could possibly have control over both, and he would put things to rights. Muggles were really very simple, while Severus Snape, McGonagall thought, was incredibly complex.

“Try not to worry about Myungsoo,” McGonagall said with a confidence she did not feel, holding Mr Kim’s hand in both of hers. “We will find a way to stop the curse.”

*

It wasn’t Luna, or Junghwan, or even Woohyun or Dongwoo who found Myungsoo in the end, even though all of them were looking for him. He knew the longer he stayed away the more suspicious and worried the others would be and he wouldn’t be able to get away without some kind of explanation but he hadn’t found a way to tell them that he was indeed the reason why Sungyeol was nearly dead, living some kind of half-life where his body stayed barely alive but unconscious; so in a simple logical equation, that meant he wasn’t going to go back just yet.

“Your concealment charm needs work,” the familiar voice drawled behind him, making him jolt upright from his position near the window. “Though I suppose moping in a corner is more important to you right now than making sure your spells are foolproof. Not very smart, I think, especially if a certain Gryffindor were to find out what you did to his best friend and came in search of you.”

Myungsoo turned around to see Snape leveling a steady stare at him, and he let the enchantment end half-defiantly. It rolled off his shoulders like water off a duck’s back, revealing him in stages from the head down.

“I didn’t do anything to him.” Myungsoo grit his teeth, fighting the urge to lash out against someone he knew he couldn’t win over even while the near-uncontainable raging against reality within him made him want to be reckless.

“Partly true,” Snape conceded, sardonic tone heavy. “The question is, what are you willing to do to make things better?”

Myungsoo’s breath caught in his throat the same moment everything else seemed to stop. “What do you mean?”

Snape walked closer, seeming to take his measure of Myungsoo while Myungsoo felt his hands go cold. “What. Are you. Willing. To do.”

Myungsoo swallowed, trying to look away from Snape’s eyes so dark you could drown in them. He thought of Sungyeol’s blood on his hands and the feel of Sungyeol’s mouth on his until the two memories were inseparable. He imagined he could taste blood on his tongue, his heartbeat speeding up. What could he possibly do?

“It seems,” Snape said, coming to stand beside him to look out the window nonchalantly as if they did this together every day. Myungsoo couldn’t take his eyes off him. “For Mr Lee to live, you have to die.”

*